Christian Klar (b.1952), a leading member of the German Red Army Faction, was arrested close to Hamburg. In the following trials he was convicted for his involvement in the 1977 murders of Siegfried Buback, Jurgen Ponto and Hanns-Martin Schleyer together with fellow RAF member Brigitte Mohnhaupt. Klar was set for release in Jan, 2009, after serving 26 years in prison.
Links: Germany, Murder

1982 Dec 3

Rebecca Marrero (b.1962) was last seen in Seattle, Wa. She was believed to have become a victim of Gary Ridgeway, the so-called Green River Killer. In 2010 her skull was found by children playing in a ravine south of Seattle. On Feb 7, 2011, Ridgeway, already serving 48 life terms, was charged with her murder.
Links: USA, Murder, Washington

1982 Dec 7

In Suriname 15 politicians, journalists, union leaders, lawyers and soldiers, were rounded up and slain in a hundreds-year-old fort in Paramaribo. In 2007 Desire Bouterse, the former dictator, faced trial for the murders. In 2008 a military tribunal in Suriname ruled that those accused of a 1982 massacre, including the country's former dictator, must stand trial.
Links: Suriname, Murder, Journalism

1982

In southern California John Visciotti (26) shot and killed co-worker Timothy Dykstra (22) and wounded Michael Wolbert. Visciotti’s murder conviction was upheld but his death sentence was reversed due to a defense lawyer’s incompetence. In 2002 a penalty-phase retrial was ordered. The Supreme Court reinstated his death penalty.
Links: California, Murder

1982

In Arizona Karl LeGrand, a German citizen, stabbed to death a bank manager during a bungled robbery attempt with his brother Walter LaGrand. Karl was convicted and died by lethal injection Feb 24, 1999. Walter was executed a week later. A UN court in 2001 upheld that the US violated international law in the case.
Links: USA, UN, Murder, Arizona, Robbery

Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals, Ala., was shot to death. Judy Wicker later testified that she had had sex with Thomas Arthur and paid him $10,000 to kill her husband. Arthur was convicted and sentenced to death. His execution, set for Dec 6, 2007, was delayed because of a pending Supreme Court case involving lethal injections.
Links: USA, Murder, Alabama

Debra Sue Carter (21), a cocktail waitress in Ada, Oklahoma, was raped and murdered. For five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Williamson was sent to death row. Both were released 12 years later, when DNA evidence proved their innocence. In 2006 novelist John Grisham read Williamson's obituary in The New York Times and made him and Fritz the subject of his first non-fiction book: “The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.” The book became a bestseller.
Links: USA, Writer, Murder, DNA, Oklahoma, Rape

1982

James Fox authored “White Mischief.” It told the story of a 1941 murder in Kenya of Josslyn Victor Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll. It was made into a film in 1988.
Links: Kenya, Murder, Books

1983 Feb 4

In Texas Wanda Lopez was murdered in Corpus Christi. In 1989 Carlos DeLuna (27) was executed for her murder. In 2012 a report, entitled "Los Tocayos Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution," said DeLuna was not guilty of the murder.
Links: USA, Murder, Texas

In California Denise Denofrio was found strangled to death in a car in Fairfield. Alan Hall was convicted in the case of voluntary manslaughter in July. In 1997 a suspected friend of Denofrio lured Hall into having sex and then severed his penis with a knife and escaped.
Links: USA, California, Sex, Murder

1983 Feb 19

A shooting at the Wah Mee gambling parlor in Seattle, Wa., left 13 men dead. Kwan-Fai Mak and Benjamin Ng were later found guilty on 13 murder counts and sentenced to life in prison.
Links: USA, Murder, Washington

1983 Feb 25

A 10-year-old girl, Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville in DuPage County, Ill., was raped and murdered. Rolando Cruz was convicted and served 10 years on death row before a sheriff's officer recanted on his story and exonerated Cruz. In 1999 7 prosecutors and sheriff's deputies went on trial on charges of conspiracy to frame an innocent man. Cruz, a small-time criminal, started out as an informant in the case. Charges against 2 prosecutors were dismissed and 4 sheriff's officers and a prosecutor were acquitted in 1999. In 2005 convicted killer Brian Dugan was indicted by a DuPage County grand jury, a full decade after an expert concluded DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
Links: USA, Illinois, Murder, DNA, Rape

1983 Mar 3

Peter Ivers (b.1946), American musician, was found bludgeoned to death in his Los Angeles apartment. In 2008 Josh Frank authored “In heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theater.”
Links: USA, California, Murder, Pop&Rock

1983 Mar 7

In France Claude Vivier (b.1948), a French-Canadian composer, was found stabbed to death. A 19-year-old man was convicted of the murder. Vivier left behind 48 completed scores and part of a 49th. His 1976 "Siddartha" was a 30 minute orchestral piece written on commission from the CBC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Vivier).
Links: Canada, France, Murder

Dorka Lisker (66) was stabbed to death at her Sherman Oaks, Ca., home. Her son Bruce, age 17 at the time of the murder, was convicted of her murder in 1985 and was sentenced to life in prison. Lisker confessed to the murder in prison, but said he only did so in hopes of getting parole. In 2009 he was freed on bail after a judge overturned his conviction due to false evidence and sloppy defense work. Prosecutors decided not to retry him.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Teens Amuck, Matricide

1983 Apr 6

Melida Anaya Montes ("Comandante Ana Maria"), Salvadoran FMLN guerrilla leader, was killed in Nicaragua, where many Salvadoran guerrillas took refuge under its leftist government. In 2007 her body was exhumed and buried in her homeland.
Links: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Murder

1983 Apr 27

In San Diego, Ca., Philip Buell, age 33 months, died from injuries of a fall while under the care of Ken Marsh. In 1984 Marsh was convicted of murder. He was freed in 2004, after spending 21 years in prison, before it was proven that he had been wrongfully convicted. In 2005 state prosecutors ruled that he should be compensated $756,000 for the time spent in prison.
Links: USA, California, Murder

1983 Jun 4

In Chino Hills, Ca., Douglas and Peggy Ryen and their 10-year old daughter, Jessica, were killed in the master bedroom of their home. Christopher Hughes (11), a neighbor, was also killed. Joshua Ryen (8) survived despite serious wounds. Kevin Cooper, who escaped from Chino prison on June 2, was arrested 47 days later and was convicted for the murders in 1985 and faced execution. Cooper claimed he was innocent and called for DNA testing of the evidence in 2000. In 2003 an execution date of Feb 10, 2004, was set for Cooper. Cooper won a last minute reprieve on Feb 9 pending a re-examination of the case. In 2005 a federal judge upheld his death penalty.
Links: USA, California, Murder

1983 Jun 6

Maine resident Kitty Wardwell (29) was reportedly last seen by her boyfriend, Francis Julian. A friend reported her missing on July 11. Julian (80) died in 2011 and a storage unit rented in his name was found to contain Wardwell’s body.
Links: USA, Murder, Maine

TimelinesA text-based site.

1983 Jul 14

In Texas Clarencio Champion (59), a party store operator in Mercedes, was stabbed during a robbery and died a week later. In 1998 David Castillo (34) was executed for the murder though he insisted on his innocence.
Links: USA, Murder, Texas, Robbery

1983 Aug 7

Cynthia Munoz (17) of Campbell, Ca., was found raped and murdered with stab wounds. In 2007 prosecutors with DNA evidence charged Christopher Melvin Holland (52) with the murder and sought his arrest. Holland was arrested in San Jose, Ca., on Oct 18, 2007.
Links: Murder, DNA, SF Bay Area, Rape

1983 Aug 31

In Fairfield, Ca., Kyle Stracner (15) returned home after visiting with friends and found his mother, Priscilla Strole (40), naked and beaten to death on the floor. In 2014 investigators used DNA evidence to identify Robert Hathaway (48), a childhood friend of Kyle, as the murderer. Hathaway hanged himself on Feb 15, 2014.
Links: USA, California, Suicide, Murder, DNA, Rape

1983 Sep 24

In North Carolina Sabrina Buie (11) went missing. Days later her body was found. Forensic tests showed she had been raped and suffocated. Henry McCollum (19) and his half-brother Leon Brown (15) were arrested and convicted following confessions that were coerced. In 2014 McCollum and Brown were freed after DNA evidence pointed to another man who lived near where Buie’s body was found. On June 4, 2015, McCollum and Brown were pardoned by Gov. Pat McCrory.
Links: USA, Murder, North Carolina, DNA, Rape

1983 Sep 25

Leslie Michelle English (2) was raped and murdered in Griffin, Georgia. Her uncle, Eddie Albert Crawford was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. After 20 years on death row Crawford was executed July 19, 2004.
Links: GeorgiaUS, USA, Murder, Rape

In Australia Edwina Boyle disappeared from her Melbourne suburb home. Her husband Frederick William Boyle (35) of Carrum Downs, dismembered her, and hid her body in a 44-gallon drum. In 2006 his son-in-law opened the drum a found her remains. A post-mortem showed she died of a bullet wound to the head. In 2008 Boyle was convicted of murder.
Links: Australia, Murder

1983 Nov 4

Dennis Nilsen (b.1945), serial killer, was sentenced in England to life imprisonment. He had killed at least 15 men over a 5 year period (1978-1983). All his victims were students or homeless men whom he picked up in bars and brought to his house either for sex or just for company. In 1993 Brian Masters authored “Killing for Company.”
Links: Britain, Gays, Murder, Biography

1983 Nov 16

In San Francisco Nikolaus Crumbley was found murdered in McLaren Park. In 2012 police with DNA evidence from the scene arrested William Payne (47). Payne had been arrested in 1984 in connection with a sexual assault on a woman.
Links: USA, SF, Murder, DNA

1983 Nov 18

In Ohio Jenean Brown (19) went missing. Her body was found 36 hours later outside Toledo. She had been beaten and nearly decapitated. In 2013 DNA tests linked Andrew Gustafson (56) to her murder. In 2014 Gustafson pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and rape and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Links: USA, Ohio, Murder, DNA, Rape

Angela Bugay of Antioch, Ca., 5-years-old, was found in a shallow grave in Concord, Ca. She had been kidnapped a week earlier. Larry Graham, who dated Angela’s mother, was later arrested as a suspect and prosecutors in 1995 received a court order to draw his blood for DNA evidence. In 1996 police matched the DNA of Graham, with samples recovered from the girl’s body and arrested him on charges of murder. Use of the DNA evidence was cleared in 1998. Graham was convicted Aug 20, 2002, and sentenced to death Oct 22. Graham (58) was found dead in his cell on June 16, 2009, of apparent suicide.
Links: USA, California, Murder, DNA

1983 Dec 15

In Ohio motel clerk Helen Vantz was killed in Elyria. Ronald Post was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death. Post was granted clemency from death in 2013 on the grounds that at 450 lbs he was too obese to be executed humanely. Post (53) died in prison on July 26, 2013.
Links: USA, Ohio, Murder

1983

In Regina, Canada, JoAnn Wilson (43) was found in the garage of her home, beaten, hacked and shot in the head. Her former husband, Colin Thatcher, former cabinet minister in Saskatchewan's government, was sentenced to life in prison for her murder. In 2006 he was granted full parole.
Links: Canada, Murder

1983

In the SF Bay Area Anthony Sully (39), a former Millbrae policeman, killed 6 people over six months while he ran an electrical contracting business in Burlingame. 4 of the victims were prostitutes, one a pimp and a woman who helped him buy cocaine. In 2013 a federal appeals court upheld his conviction and death sentence.
Links: USA, Murder, SF Bay Area, Rape

1984 Jan 13

Arizona inmate Robert Henry Moormann beat, stabbed and suffocated his adoptive mother, Roberta Moormann (74), who allegedly sexually abused him into adulthood. He was out of prison in Florence on furlough for another crime, the kidnapping and molesting of an 8-year-old girl in 1972. Robert Henry Moormann was executed in 2012.
Links: USA, Mayhem, Sex, Murder, Arizona

Marvin P. Gay Sr. (d.1998 at 84) shot and killed his son, Motown singer Marvin Gaye during an argument in Los Angeles. It was one day before the singer’s 45th birthday. Gaye’s hit songs included "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What’s Going On," and "Let’s Get It On." Mr. Gay pleaded voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 5 years probation.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Pop&Rock

1984 Apr 5

In California Tina Faelz (14) was stabbed to death in a culvert under I-680 while she was walking home from school in Pleasanton. Fellow students discovered her body shortly afterward. On Aug 8, 2011, the Pleasanton Police Department announced that Steven J. Carlson (43), a former classmate of the Foothill High student has been arrested in her killing. In 2012 his case was transferred to adult court. On Oct 30, 2014, Carlson was convicted of first-degree murder.
Links: USA, California, Murder

1984 Apr 6

In SF Joan Baldwin (43) was killed and mutilated at an Earl Scheib paint shop at 555 Bryant St. In 2006 police arrested parolee Dwight Culton (57) based on DNA evidence. On may 4, 2011, Culton was convicted of the murder.
Links: USA, SF, Murder, DNA

1984 Apr 10

In San Francisco Mei “Linda” Leung (9) was kidnapped, raped and killed. Her body was found hanging over a pipe in the baxement of her apartment building at 765 O’Farrell St. In 2009 DNA evidence tied Richard Ramirez (b.1960), known as the “Night Stalker,” to her murder. The evidence also indicated a possible 2nd attacker.
Links: USA, SF, Murder, Kids, Rape

1984 Apr 17

Yvonne Fletcher (25), a British police officer, was killed from rifle shots fired from a window of the Libyan embassy in London during a demonstration against Moammar Khadafy. Diplomatic relations were soon severed and not restored until 1999. Libya later gave Fletcher’s family some compensation. In 2004 a joint British-Libyan investigation into the murder was launched. In 2009 Moamer Kadhafi officially apologized for the shooting. In 2011 it was reported that a witness had identified Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, a junior diplomat working in the administrative section, as firing a gun from an embassy window.
Links: Britain, Libya, Murder

TimelinesA text-based site.

1984 Apr 20

Julie Connell (18), a senior at Arroyo High School, disappeared in Hayward. Her body was found 5 days later in Palomares Canyon near Castro Valley. In 2000 DNA evidence revealed that Robert Rhoades (47), a Yuba City man on death row, had kidnapped, raped and stabbed her to death. Rhoades was convicted in 2007.
Links: USA, California, Murder, SF Bay Area, Rape

1984 Apr 27

In Oregon Billy Gilley Jr. (28) murdered his parents and a sister (11) with a baseball bat and ran away with his other sister Jody (16). She soon contacted the police and Billy was arrested. In 2008 Kathryn Harrison authored “While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family.”
Links: USA, Murder, Oregon

1984 Jun 18

Alan Berg, a Denver radio talk show host, was shot to death outside his home. Two white supremacists of the Aryan Nations Church were convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying in 1987.
Links: USA, Colorado, Radio, Murder

1984 Jun 30

Hedayat Eslaminia, a former government official under the Shah of Iran, disappeared while living in exile in Belmont, Ca. The family had reportedly fled Iran with a fortune in 1978. Hedayat (57) suffocated and died in a steamer trunk. His son Reza (26), a member of the "Billionaire Boys Club," was later charged with the abduction and murder. Reza was convicted and sentenced to life. In 1992 Joe Hunt, head of the club, was also tried for the killing of Eslaminia, but a hung jury forced a mistrial. In 1998 Rexa's conviction was overturned based on unfair evidence and a new trial was scheduled. Arben Dosti’s conviction was reversed in 1998. A new trial was scheduled for Oct. in San Mateo. In 2000 charges against Reza Eslaminia were dismissed.
Links: USA, California, Murder, SF Bay Area

1984 Jun

In Nevada Gerald Gallego was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death. Charlene Williams, his former accomplice and mother of his child, testified against Gallego. They were involved in sex-slave murders in the late 1970s. Charlene was released from prison in 1997.
Links: USA, Murder, Nevada

James Huberty (41) opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
Links: California, Murder, Mad Man

1984 Jul 24

In American Fort, Utah, Ron and Dan Lafferty stabbed to death their sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, and her daughter Erica, aged 15 months. In 2003 Jon Krakauer authored "Under the Banner of Heaven," an account of the murder and the Mormon background of the Laffertys.
Links: USA, Utah, Murder

Seven men, three women and two children were tortured killed in Calaveras County, Ca., at the home of Leonard Lake as part of "Project Miranda," inspired by the John Fowles novel, "The Collector." Lake killed himself with cyanide during a police interview. Charles Ng was arrested in Canada in 1985 for stealing and extradited to the US after 6 years for his role in the murders.
Links: Canada, USA, California, Murder

1984 Jul

In Australia Margaret Tapp was strangled and her daughter Seana raped and later killed. In 2008 Melbourne police withdrew charges against Russell John Gesah, accused in the murders, after DNA evidence used against him was found to have been taken elsewhere and mistakenly tested with samples from the Tapp murder scene.
Links: Australia, Murder, DNA, Rape

In Germany Robert Brown (24), a former American soldier, struck Nicola Stiel (19) and raped her, then strangled her to prevent her from reporting the rape. In 2009 Brown was extradited to Germany to face charges that he raped and murdered the woman near where he worked on a US military base in Hesse state.
Links: USA, Germany, Murder, Rape

1984 Aug 31

In southern California Ebora Alexander (57), the mother or 49ers star Kermit Alexander, was shot dead along with his sister and two nephews. Tiequon Cox, a member of the Rollin’ 60 Crips, was later convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Two others were sentenced to life in prison.
Links: USA, California, Murder

1984 Sep 21

In Cleveland, Ohio, Romell Broom (b.1956) raped a murdered Tryna Middleton (14) after abducting her at knife-point as she walked home from a football game with friends. His execution in 2009 was delayed as executioners failed to find a good vein for lethal injection.
Links: USA, Ohio, Murder, Rape

1984 Oct 8

Attorney Cherie Barnard found Gary Grady, health club owner and drug dealer, shot to death in Novato, Ca. Later the same day Barnard’s husband Robert Rogers was found dead of an apparent suicide in the Berkeley Marina. In 2005 Barnard and Rogers were implicated in the 1979 murder of Robert Pfiel (27) in Wisconsin.
Links: Murder, Wisconsin, SF Bay Area

1984 Oct 19

Jerzy Popieluszko, Polish priest and dissident, was kidnapped by three secret police officers after celebrating his last mass in Bydgoszcz, central Poland. The priest was tortured to death before his body was thrown into the Vistula river, 120 km. north of Warsaw [see Oct 30, Dec 27]. Popieluszko was beatified in 2010.
Links: Poland, Murder

In Palo Alto, Ca., Dennis Anderson (50) used a shotgun to kill Donald Mason, the former boyfriend of his 20-day wife, and then beat and blasted his wife, Karen Stoker-Anderson. He was convicted of double murder in 1985 but the ruling was overturned on the basis of mental incompetence in 1995 and a retrial began in 1997. Anderson was sentenced 17 years to life in prison.
Links: USA, Murder, SF Bay Area

In San Francisco the body of Masataka Kobayashi, chef and co-owner of the Masa’s restaurant on Bush Street, was found dead at his Knob Hill apartment. His restaurant became an immediate sensation when it opened in 1983.
Links: USA, SF, Murder

1984 Dec 11

Kimberly Billy (19) of Stockton, Ca., went missing. Her remains were found in 2012 in a compacted well in Linden, Ca., and attributed to Speed Freak Killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.
Links: USA, California, Murder, Teens Amuck

1984

The body of Ruth Beroscope (50) of San Jose, Ca., was found murdered and sexually assaulted in a ditch near the Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale. In 2005 Luis Perez, already in prison for rape and attempted murder, was charged for Beroscope’s murder. He was linked by DNA and other evidence.
Links: Murder, DNA, SF Bay Area, Rape